Vegas 2006 - Day 6
Nov 11, 2006
For some strange reason this time around, I had a hankering for dim sum. I'm always interested in what Chinese food looks like elsewhere. Strangely enough, that whole episode earlier on with the Chinese food at the airport didn't deter me. Someone found one, and it was off the strip. Given our track record with non-casino restaurants, this was a good sign.
So, we headed there with Vegas Nicole. The restaurant felt like the Chinese restaurants in Toronto's Chinatown. Loud, boisterous Cantonese could be heard as we entered the lobby, and the clientele was mostly Chinese. I can't, for the life of me, recall what we ordered, but it was the dim sum that came on a cart. It allowed us to try new things we probably would have never ordered off the menu. I don't think I got Anne or Nicole to try the steamed tripe or phoenix claws (chicken feet) though. Overall, the food was really good (though I didn't get to order the one or two dishes I normally use to get a better gauge of what I think of the restaurant), and the price was very, very reasonable, considering that we probably would have paid twice as much if the restaurant was in a casino. Most importantly, because the food came in intervals, we didn't stuff ourselves silly. We were happily, contently full.
Our next stop was the Rio, famous for two things - the parade in the sky, and the casino where Prince performs. Obviously, we didn't get to see Prince, as we were there during the day, and as he's probably too short to be seen from behind the slot machines. The parade in the sky was amazing. It was literally parade floats moving along rails set to the ceiling, covering the entire casino floor with very fun Mardi Gras/Carnival music. Even I was dancing in my seat at the penny slots.
I was dancing even more enthusiastically when I started winning like crazy at "Pharaoh's Treasure". Then I got greedy, and as if by magic, I started losing like crazy when I began doubling and tripling my bets. I think in the end, I was around break-even.
Oh, did I mention that Anne and I had to save Vegas Nicole, who was being hit on by a clown? Literally? Okay. Good. Shhhhhh. Not that Nicole minds, but because I can't remember if it happened at Rio, or at our next stop, Circus Circus.
The midway at Circus Circus is great! There were lots of games to play and prizes to win. Anne accidentally won the jackpot when trying to figure out how to play one of the games. She got 250 tickets, for thinking, "Gee, I wonder what this does?" and hitting a button, not realizing that someone had already paid for the game. In the end, we pooled our tickets together to get a "My Little Pony", and a bunch of trinkets. Yes, folks, it isn't just the cigarette companies that are trying to hook the kids onto their products early. And speaking of hook, we (mostly Vegas Nicole) noticed that they were middle-aged men there that didn't seem to be with anyone, just meandering about.
We also got to watch acrobats and trapeze artists perform, but then I was hungry, and this being the circus, I got a foot long hot dog with cheese. It was a foot of bun, overflowing with cheese, and somewhere in that mess of sodium and fat swam the foot of meat, basically more sodium and fat. It was delicious, and unlike Ned Flanders, I didn't feel uncomfortable about it. That is until I found out that across the street, at a casino whose name escapes me, there were 99 cent foot longs. Well, at least the 99 cent margaritas there were comforting me.
This casino was noted for having the most penny slots, which just means they take your money at a slower rate, but take your money those slots did, because no one was even remotely winning. They weren't even attempting to get you to play more by letting you win a little bit every so often. They could have just painted buckets and had you throw your pennies into those instead. (BTW, penny slots only technically take a penny to play, but realistically, you need to pay around a quarter each time to have any remote chance of winning anything more than a free drink - which isn't really free either because you have to tip the scantily clad waitress an amount equal to amount the cost of the drink).
Day 7 was an uneventful flight home, but we are already planning for next year - Playboy, Hooters, Hard Rock, Pro Bass Shops (for the mermaids), Phantom, more Cirque, and maybe even the Grand Canyon.
For some strange reason this time around, I had a hankering for dim sum. I'm always interested in what Chinese food looks like elsewhere. Strangely enough, that whole episode earlier on with the Chinese food at the airport didn't deter me. Someone found one, and it was off the strip. Given our track record with non-casino restaurants, this was a good sign.
So, we headed there with Vegas Nicole. The restaurant felt like the Chinese restaurants in Toronto's Chinatown. Loud, boisterous Cantonese could be heard as we entered the lobby, and the clientele was mostly Chinese. I can't, for the life of me, recall what we ordered, but it was the dim sum that came on a cart. It allowed us to try new things we probably would have never ordered off the menu. I don't think I got Anne or Nicole to try the steamed tripe or phoenix claws (chicken feet) though. Overall, the food was really good (though I didn't get to order the one or two dishes I normally use to get a better gauge of what I think of the restaurant), and the price was very, very reasonable, considering that we probably would have paid twice as much if the restaurant was in a casino. Most importantly, because the food came in intervals, we didn't stuff ourselves silly. We were happily, contently full.
Our next stop was the Rio, famous for two things - the parade in the sky, and the casino where Prince performs. Obviously, we didn't get to see Prince, as we were there during the day, and as he's probably too short to be seen from behind the slot machines. The parade in the sky was amazing. It was literally parade floats moving along rails set to the ceiling, covering the entire casino floor with very fun Mardi Gras/Carnival music. Even I was dancing in my seat at the penny slots.
I was dancing even more enthusiastically when I started winning like crazy at "Pharaoh's Treasure". Then I got greedy, and as if by magic, I started losing like crazy when I began doubling and tripling my bets. I think in the end, I was around break-even.
Oh, did I mention that Anne and I had to save Vegas Nicole, who was being hit on by a clown? Literally? Okay. Good. Shhhhhh. Not that Nicole minds, but because I can't remember if it happened at Rio, or at our next stop, Circus Circus.
The midway at Circus Circus is great! There were lots of games to play and prizes to win. Anne accidentally won the jackpot when trying to figure out how to play one of the games. She got 250 tickets, for thinking, "Gee, I wonder what this does?" and hitting a button, not realizing that someone had already paid for the game. In the end, we pooled our tickets together to get a "My Little Pony", and a bunch of trinkets. Yes, folks, it isn't just the cigarette companies that are trying to hook the kids onto their products early. And speaking of hook, we (mostly Vegas Nicole) noticed that they were middle-aged men there that didn't seem to be with anyone, just meandering about.
We also got to watch acrobats and trapeze artists perform, but then I was hungry, and this being the circus, I got a foot long hot dog with cheese. It was a foot of bun, overflowing with cheese, and somewhere in that mess of sodium and fat swam the foot of meat, basically more sodium and fat. It was delicious, and unlike Ned Flanders, I didn't feel uncomfortable about it. That is until I found out that across the street, at a casino whose name escapes me, there were 99 cent foot longs. Well, at least the 99 cent margaritas there were comforting me.
This casino was noted for having the most penny slots, which just means they take your money at a slower rate, but take your money those slots did, because no one was even remotely winning. They weren't even attempting to get you to play more by letting you win a little bit every so often. They could have just painted buckets and had you throw your pennies into those instead. (BTW, penny slots only technically take a penny to play, but realistically, you need to pay around a quarter each time to have any remote chance of winning anything more than a free drink - which isn't really free either because you have to tip the scantily clad waitress an amount equal to amount the cost of the drink).
Day 7 was an uneventful flight home, but we are already planning for next year - Playboy, Hooters, Hard Rock, Pro Bass Shops (for the mermaids), Phantom, more Cirque, and maybe even the Grand Canyon.
posted by Frank Yao | 2:26 PM
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